04 March 2008

Okara is a great addition to a bread recipe, but I was curious to see how it would work with pasta. I experimented with making a pasta dough without egg and using the okara as a binder instead. I was content with the outcome. I have since made lasagne with the dough, and it was mighty tasty.

2 tablespoons water (optional; depending on how wet your okara is, you might not need it)

Make a well in the middle of the dry ingredients, and pour wet ingredients into it. Mix to make a stiff dough. If the dough seems too dry, add the optional water. If it is too wet, add more flour, two tablespoons at a time. Knead for 10 minutes. Tuck a damp kitchen towel on top of the dough, and let it rest for 20 minutes. Roll out on lightly floured surface and cut into desired shapes. Or use your pasta maker according to the manufacturer’s instructions.

If you are using the dough for lasagne, DO NOT BOIL first, just add to your recipe as is.

Fill a large pot with water, add 1/2 teaspoon oil, and bring to a boil. Add pasta and cook until “aldente”. Because the pasta is fresh, it will cook incredibly fast. When the pasta floats to the surface— test it, it is usually ready.

Hi M-I am sorry that I don’t have an answer for that. I usually use it right away (poor planning on my part, lol) I think, after letting it dry briefly, it would be fine to freeze. Because of the moisture content, I would probably not try to dry it for storage. However, I know you can dry okara for storage. (Hmm, maybe I will try this experiment in my food dehydrator). When I have leftover pasta, I usually put it in the refrigerator and use it within a couple of days. I am lucky to have some very hungry teenagers in the house...Let me know if you have any success in freezing/drying. Thank you, M.

Hi! I made your pasta finally last night..wow, almost a full year after I intended to!What happened with me was the dough was really quite sticky and I added almost double the flour and it is still not smooth the way pasta dough should be, nor has any gluten developed-- it's kind of like play-doh. Because of the lack of gluten, the pasta doesn't hold together very well and breaks into little pieces when boiling. Any tips? (Obviously, I haven't gotten around to freezing yet :))

M-I am sorry you didn't have success with this recipe! It is sometimes hard to judge how much flour you will need because of the moisture content of the okara. Don't give up...try the recipe again, maybe skip the liquid altogether. It should hold together like regular pasta dough. I do use a generous dusting of flour when I put the dough through my pasta machine. Please let me know if you try it again and are still having difficulties..

Pasta Update! Thought I'd let you know, I stuck the same sticky dough I'd made above into the freezer, thinking I would deal with it later. (I divided the dough into two balls, flattened them slightly to make for quicker thawing, wrapped in plastic, then stuck in a ziploc)

I defrosted it on the counter yesterday, and what a revelation! The texture had all smoothed out, the dough was elastic, and I could roll it out, no problem! Just a little flour to keep it from sticking to the board.

Also, I cut some fettucine strands, twirled them aroung in "nests" and left them on the counter to dry (turning once to dry the other side). It works like a dream, and cooks up just fine.

M-Thank you for the update! I was curious about "drying" the pasta and was glad to hear it was successful. Maybe one of these days we will have leftovers, and I will try drying the pasta myself. Let me know how it "keeps". Toontz :)

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